Switching to a more eco-friendly beauty routine

As the importance of making lifestyle changes to reduce Climate Change is being increasingly promoted, more people have cut down on their meat and dairy intake than ever before; one of the drivers for Veganism becoming ‘mainstream’ and the booming trend of Flexitarianism.

Despite people making dietary changes and making an extra effort to recycle, fewer people seem to be addressing other aspects of their lifestyle; such as their purchase choices of toiletries and beauty products.

Even though you may think that these small changes are probably insignificant on the wider scale of climate change, the beauty industry is a billion-dollar industry so our consumer choices could have a huge impact on its overall environmental contribution.

Here are some top tips on how to achieve a more sustainable beauty regime that are simple and easy to adopt…

Ditch the face wipes

Go for more reusable methods of cleansing and removing makeup. Lush do a cleanser balm that you rub all over your face then you can use some reusable lightweight face cloth (Body Shop do a good one) to wipe all the makeup and dirt off. This method improves exfoliation too!

If you still can’t stop using makeup wipes, you can now get your hands on some biodegradable ones!

Coconut oil can be used for almost anything; moisturising curly hair, nourishing your skin, or used in your Thai curry (but obviously don’t double dip as you wouldn’t want to be using chilli in your beauty regime!). But try and buy sustainable, fairtrade and organic coconut oil where possible to limit your environmental impact or else you might be doing more harm than good!

Have you found yourself building a never-ending collection of creams, face washes and scrubs all promising to give you perfect skin? Go back to basics instead as going for the ‘less is more’ approach is kinder to your skin as well as to the environment. The Ordinary do individual chemical solutions that you can buy for your specific skin type to make up your own “skin buffet” so you’ll only be using exactly what your skin needs. Their bottles are cheap and long-lasting too!

Lush do an amazing deal where if you bring back five empty Lush pots back to store you get a free fresh face mask (worth over £6!), you’ll be saving money and be doing your part for sustainability, that’s a win-win situation. Even though Lush is slightly more pricey that your regular drugstore brand, they’re a company with sustainability and ethics at their core- all their products are animal-cruelty free and now all vegan!